FEB 24: TENNIS AND OTHER SPORTS TIPS

ANDY MURRAY was shocked by Gilles Simon in the Rottderdam Open quarter-finals last time out and today the Scot faces another tricky customer in round one of the Dubai Championships.

Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller reached the last eight in Rotterdam, losing to eventual finalist Stan Wawrinka, and is 9-2 at William Hill to bag a win against Murray, the 1-8 favourite. If you fancy the match to go the distance it’s 11-5 at Paddy Power for over 2.5 sets.

Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych are also short-priced favourites to win first-round matches today while there’s an intriguing all-Spanish clash with Fernando Verdasco 8-11 at William Hill against countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, an even-money shot.

Meanwhile the likes of Kei Nishikori play their openers at the Mexican Open tonight and there’s also plenty of top-class women’s action at the Qatar Open.

At the Cricket World Cup Ireland look to follow up their sensational win over West Indies with victory over United Arab Emirates in a match that gets under way at 3:30am tonight. The Irish are 1-4 at Ladbrokes and the UAE are 15-4 at Betway to spring a surprise.

Apologies Brian mate! We’ll get it back. Starting to get better each week with the picks so I’m on tomorrows total on OKC and I’ll put something else up in the morning. Not too many fixtures so it’ll be low stakes till Thursday morning where we have 12 games to choose from.

In West Indies first match against Ireland they hit 304 runs, with 12 sixes. Ireland hit 307 runs and 6 sixes, equalling 18 match sixes. In their second match against Pakistan they hit 310 runs with 7 sixes and they conceded 160 runs, but just 2 sixes. Even though Pakistan were pathetic and completely collapsed for an embarrassing 160, the match still produced 9 sixes.

Zimbabwe should put up far more of a fight than Pakistan, as evidenced in their resilient innings of 277 against the dangerous attack of South Africa. In their 277 knock against South Africa they managed 7 sixes, conceded 339 runs, and 14 sixes. In their second match against UAE they managed 5 sixes in their knock of 286, whilst conceding 285 runs and 4 sixes.

So with both teams having played 2 matches, West Indies have hit 19 sixes, with the matches combined totalling 27 sixes (avg 13.5 per match).
Zimbabwe’s two matches have seen them hit 12 sixes, with the matches combined totalling 30 sixes (avg 15 per match).

Based purely on statistics, this match should see 14+ sixes. The only situation that could change things would be if Zimbabwe batted first and got a score of less than 200, meaning the Windies could take their time and not have to attack as much in the chase. However, I dont see this happening, as Zimbabwe looked resilient against a far stronger attack against South Africa, managing 270+ with 7 sixes.

7 fold pays $7.20 but I’d like to remove 1 leg and make a 6 fold. Which leg is the riskiest in your opinion? Thinking of removing Baghdatis but not sure if any of the other shorter priced legs are bogies. Cheers

Looks pretty good mate. Baghdatis is the riskiest I reckon, though he’s been popular in the market ever since the odds came out so people out there clearly think he had a good shout. Bolelli’s match is potentially tricky but he should be okay if he plays like he has been. They should all win, other than Baghdatis perhaps, assuming things like fatigue aren’t an issue for those having travelled from European torunamets. Certainly looks worth a go anyway. Best of luck.

Thanks Ellis, same, just woke up for work in time to see him get caught out final ball of the innings, saw his score and knew he’d had done the sixes on his own, didn’t anticipate him hitting 16 though! His second century was off 33 balls..

Anyone watching the cross country in Falun? 10km free in women competition starts at 12.30 UK time
Astrid Jacobsen to finish in front of Heidi Weng. Now 1.50 down from 1.83 @365 looking solid. Or if you need a bit more risky Johaug before Kalla @2.05. Any ideas?

Fish you’re welcome. I posted a double yesterday that had Afghanistan in it. I’ll find it and re post it mate. Also fancy Ireland to win. You could double the 2, or the other bet I’ve tipped for Ireland game is ‘Team of top batsman – Ireland’ it’s around 4/9 so perfect for a double

Aguero FGS barca 2-1 is a tasty looking bet. Could all be over in the blink of an eye is the only thing potentially putting a dampener on proceedings though. Same goes for any FGS bet though. To prolong the fun I’m tempted a little by an anytime scorer at big odds, like Zabaleta @ 18/1, Fernandinho 10/1, Pique 10/1, Alves 15/2. I might just wait to see how things are looking in play before deciding. If Zabaleta is raiding into Barca territory with menace I might jump on him. Or I might just back a ludicrous number of goals to be scored if it looks open!

Already posted last night on the OKC/Pacer spread at over 202.5 @ PP. With or without Durant this has a chance to come in. Even more so if he doesn’t play I think.

Wouldn’t touch the Raptors game as it’ll be just my luck that they win on the road in Dallas tonight.

Curry still doubtful for the Warriors so another tough call in Washington.

Cleveland/Detroit, people would suggest Cleveland but Detroit have beaten The Wizards and Bulls since the break, both games at home and again tonight. Total fairly low so that might be worth grabbing with Detroit scoring 100 or more in both of those games and we all know how Cleveland can score.

You could add the City goal at Skybet for a five fold just under 5/2 but too many people are putting doubts in my mind. Barca obviously have the firepower to win but they’re not steel walls in defence, they’re human beings who make mistakes and to rule out a City goal would be crazy with or without Toure.

do u know what really grinds my gears the fact that betting sites close cash out when its convienet for them and ur about to lose the amount of times I was about to press cash out and the bet screwed is countless……

Regretting putting GGL in that acca. He just lost 15 points in a row against Verdasco to lose the first set and go behind in the second. SHocker! Ah well. The underdogs ROla and Olivo are on top so hopefully they can get the job done

Happy days. Way too big a price for that matchup at this moment in time. Krajicek crumbled after a marathon first set tie break against Giraldo to blow the 6/4 tip, now I’m hoping Olivo can finish the job against Nieminen, but i fear the Finn may be on his way back in.

You must be fuming there mate! Beggars belief that he could not only take such a poor penalty but then try and guide the rebound into the bottom corner with the resulting header and get it horribly wrong. Crazy. Why didn’t he just head it straight down the middle of the goal??

Wwhy are my football bets deleted from here? I tipped them on here as they were in with my NBA bets. People post cricket, rugby and UFC bets on the football thread (among other rubbish) so I should be able to do the same here. Oh well the Juventus team goals and to score treble won gents. Huggy did you have a go on the NAP?

Yeah I re posted them mate but they’ve been deleted. No bother. Whoever followed if anyone will know they won. Good luck with you treble mate. I hope the Mavs beat the Raptors after last night but I’m not touching that one.

That’s the way I’d think about it mate but I don’t like to bet on or against the same team involved twice in two nights. Threw up the red herring yesterday so I doubt they’ll do it again but I can’t be certain. Heard a crazy stat that they are 7-0 when playing back to back road games but probably not against teams like the Mavs.

Half stakes for me today guys as it’s not a great card. Notre Dame are one of the top NCAA basketball teams and Syracruse have been struggling on the road so I think an easy win for Notre Dame today. I’ve gone for 3 underdogs for my treble as I feel these teams are better than the odds suggest. As for the NHL double, it’s a bit of a throw at the stumps but still in with a good chance I feel. GL today all.

After that Messi penalty fiasco i’m going to be pulling my hair out if Dimitrov doesn’t win 2-0. He’s had 23 break points so far and only converted 5 of them. He’s also had 4 match points and now he’s serving to stay in the second set. I’m starting to get the feeling it’s one of those nights!

You could add the City goal at Skybet for a five fold just under 5/2 but too many people are putting doubts in my mind. Barca obviously have the firepower to win but they’re not steel walls in defence, they’re human beings who make mistakes and to rule out a City goal would be crazy with or without Toure.

5/2 **WIN**

Main bet loses but if you went with the other bets you should have made some wedge. 4 out of 5 on the thread can’t complain with that.